Jimmy Mulville on the replacement for Angus
According to The Guardian newspaper, Stephen Fry and Clive Anderson have been ruled out as replacements for Angus Deayton on Have I Got News For You.
They quoted Jimmy Mulville, the joint managing director of Hat Trick Productions, as saying: "These stories that we were approaching Stephen Fry or Clive Anderson were complete fiction" - which is not quite the same as ruling them out.
Mulville also said only one of the six stand-in guests who had presented the show up to the time of the interview even be considered for the post - presumably Anne Robinson.
The Guardian did not ask Mulville how long was the contract with the BBC had to run. The better solution would be to bring back Angus Deayton and take the show off to another channel.
Stop-gap presenters
Paul Merton stepped in as the stop-gap host on Have I Got News For You screened on 1st November. At the recording he said: "I’d like to thank Angus for all his efforts in entertaining vast numbers of the general public over the years. How he found the energy to do this show as well I’ll never know." The tribute was airbrushed out of the broadcast show.
6.6 million watched the show - a record then for the series.
Anne Robinson presented the show on Friday 8th November. John Simpson suggested she should wear a burka. This show was watched by 7.3 million viewers, a new record for the current series and the second highest ever for Have I Got News For You. This was just behind the 7.5 million who watched the show in which Angus Deayton was humiliated by Paul Merton and Ian Hislop after the Caroline Martin revelations. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy also presented the show and managed to get an audience figure of 6.8 million.
John Sergeant presented Have I Got News For You on 22nd November. The show was a warning of how creaky it could become with the wrong choice of host.
Angus Deayton is sacked
Angus Deayton has been sacked as presenter of Have I Got News For You.
In a statement, a spokesman for the BBC said: "The BBC and Hat Trick Productions, the makers of Have I Got News For You, have asked Angus Deayton to step down as host of BBC One's satirical news quiz with immediate effect.
"It is felt by all concerned that continuing stories in the media about Angus's private life have made him the subject of headlines rather than a commentator on them. This has made his position as host of the topical news quiz untenable."
Head of entertainment at the BBC, Jane Lush, met Deayton at a "secret location" on 29th October after a meeting in the morning between BBC executives, Deayton's agent, Peter Fincham, and representatives of Hat Trick Productions.
The head of BBC One, Lorraine Heggessey, commented at a winter programme launch in August: "His private life is his private life. We will see how it goes in the future." Earlier in the year Deayton's salary was halved to